A report by the UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers will next month call for governments to accept that climate change is now inevitable. Strategies must be put in place now to protect our infrastructure from its worst effects, alongside existing efforts to reduce emissions, it will argue.

Recommendations include more underground reservoirs to combat increased evaporation during drought, and a subterranean water-distribution system. Electricity should be produced from a mix of renewable sources. To reduce the urban heat-island effect - whereby concrete jungles overheat, necessitating energy-hungry air-conditioning - new cities should be designed to ensure heat is dispersed away from buildings.

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From issue 2696 of New Scientist magazine, page 17.Subscribe and get 4 free issues.